My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 159 Impossible

Li Yuan was in a good mood these days.

After the sage left, many things went smoothly.

He also began to act according to his secret plot with Liu Xuan.

The first thing he did was to write to the sage, explaining the system of land allocation!
In the past, Li Yuan would never have dared to mention this, but after Liu Xuan analyzed it for him, Li Yuan thought it was acceptable and directly submitted a memorial to the emperor.

Li Yuan did not directly criticize the land grant system, after all, this was something the sage was proud of. If he directly criticized it and demanded that the sage reform it, he might lose his head. The sage dared to execute He Ruobi and Gao Jiong, so there was no reason why he wouldn't dare to execute Li Yuan. Therefore, Li Yuan adopted a method that the sage liked.

In his memorial to the throne, Li Yuan described how he had led the people to reclaim wasteland and achieved results, restoring much abandoned farmland.

He was puzzled by the abandonment of so much farmland, so he sent people to investigate.

The investigation revealed that some local powerful families dared to seize the land allocated by the emperor! They colluded with local officials to take over the land allocated to the people, secretly occupying large amounts of arable land and refusing to pay land taxes!
Li Yuan was extremely resentful of these powerful clans that did not pay taxes, believing them to be disloyal to the emperor. He hoped the emperor would take this matter seriously and not allow so much arable land to fall into the hands of traitors, thus preventing the court from receiving grain.

Furthermore, Li Yuan subtly suggested that this situation seemed to be most common in Guanzhong.

The sage did not care about the people, but he could not be considered a tyrant in the strict sense. The sage did not care about the people, but he really cared about the income and expenditure of the court and the expansion of territory. He really wanted to accomplish great things, to restore the territory of the Han Dynasty, and to make the Sui Dynasty a great and prosperous era that was unprecedented in history.

He mobilized a million people to repair canals at once, which was actually to facilitate fighting and to make it easier for him to accomplish great things.

It's just that the sage was a bit too indifferent to the people. In order to fulfill his ambitions, he didn't care at all how many people would die or how many people would go hungry.

The reason Li Yuan submitted this memorial was, of course, related to the method of promotion mentioned by Liu Xuan.

On the one hand, he actively sought to align himself with the sage and gain his favor; on the other hand, he provoked Yang Xuangan, hoping he would repay him properly. In terms of annexing land, virtually no one in the world could compare to Yang Xuangan's family.

Yang Su's talent and achievements are undeniable, but his character is also truly befitting of a sage.

His greed was almost insane.

The Yang family was already very wealthy. Due to his merits and military achievements, he accumulated a lot of wealth. However, Yang Su was not satisfied with this. During his reign, he used his power to solicit bribes from all the ministers. Those who wanted to be promoted, make money, or promote younger generations had to bribe him to achieve their goals. His house was always bustling with people coming and going, openly bribing him.

Bribery wasn't enough. Relying on his power, he sent his sons and subordinates to seize farmland, manors, merchants' homes, and residences throughout Guanzhong and even the whole country. Whether they belonged to ordinary people, other powerful families, or the state, they were all seized without hesitation!
He owned so many businesses in the Guanzhong region that they were impossible to count. He also owned vast estates, mines, and horse farms all over the country. He himself couldn't even count how many businesses he owned.

In contrast to Yang Su, Yang Xuangan had a much better reputation. He was not greedy and did not engage in much mergers or acquisitions after inheriting his father's position.

However, he no longer needed to go on a frenzied acquisition spree! His estates in Guanzhong, if laid end to end, were larger than the imperial palace! What more could he possibly want?

After Yang Xuangan came to power, he constantly made friends and used money to pave the way, bringing so many sons of powerful and wealthy people to his side, all thanks to the huge inheritance left by his father.

Therefore, Li Yuan's target was quite clear.

Li Yuan was no longer afraid of offending powerful clans. According to his new idea, he only needed to befriend a few people who were worth befriending, and the rest did not matter at all. After submitting his memorial, Li Yuan secretly informed some friends in Guanzhong who were worth befriending about this matter, so that they could prepare for the situation.

Li Yuan could even imagine how the emperor would feel after seeing the memorial, and he could roughly guess what exciting things would happen when the emperor returned to Guanzhong.

In a good mood, Li Yuan summoned all the children to eat together. Except for Li Xiuning, who was feeling unwell, all the other children came.

Li Yuan sat on the throne, full of vigor and ambition.

As long as the plan goes smoothly, I will definitely be able to enter the court next year. It's not impossible for me to be directly appointed to a high position. Zhao Yuanshu was promoted just by submitting a letter of flattery, so why can't I?

He drank some wine, then looked at the children in front of him, feeling even more smug.

My teaching was truly successful!
These children are all very promising.

The eldest brother has been involved in the recruitment and distribution of minerals in recent days, and has done a great job in both. He has also gathered many scions of prominent families around him, and his influence has been further expanded. If this continues, there should be no one among the young noble scions who can compete with him!

The second son performed exceptionally well in Yingyang Prefecture. Chai Shao praised his talent to him several times. At his age, he even became sworn brothers with some of the old soldiers in Yingyang Prefecture. Li Yuan knew all too well what kind of people those were. For the second son to achieve this at his age, he was truly better than his eldest brother!

As for the third child, needless to say, he is well-behaved, sensible, and kind-hearted.
Fourth brother, hmm, this wine is pretty good.

Li Yuan lowered his head and took another sip of wine, his eyes narrowing into slits.

He first looked at Li Jiancheng.

"Da Lang."

"Grandpa." Li Yuan took a deep breath and said seriously, "From today onwards, all of my family's businesses in Hedong will be managed by you. I will no longer interfere, and they will hand them over directly to you."

"Grandma!"

Li Jiancheng was somewhat taken aback, and Li Yuan continued, "You should make good use of these industries and secretly befriend some truly talented and capable people. Don't be too fixated on their backgrounds; talented people are not necessarily from prestigious families."

Li Jiancheng didn't say much, and quickly stood up and said, "Yes."

Li Shimin sat to the side with some envy. In this way, his elder brother would never be short of money again. Although he had never been short of money in the past, he would become more and more free in the future. He could travel around under the guise of managing the industry and making friends with capable people. He was completely free.

Li Yuan looked at the other children and said, "You must study hard and diligently assist your elder brother in the future, understand?"

"Here!!"

Li Yuan grinned and looked at Li Jiancheng, "You'll be in charge of these guys' expenses from now on. Give them whatever you want, but don't give them too much!"

Li Jiancheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, Grandpa, I'll keep a close eye on them."

Li Shimin was overjoyed, his eyes lit up.

After Li Yuan finished speaking, he looked at Lady Dou, who was standing to the side. Seeing Lady Dou nod slightly, Li Yuan continued drinking.

Today's events were not Li Yuan's spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather suggested by Lady Dou.

Although Li Yuan didn't understand why his wife was in such a hurry to have his eldest son manage the household, since it was what she wanted, he would just do as she said.

As soon as the banquet ended, Li Shimin held his brother's hand tightly and wouldn't let go.

“Brother, I have quite a few expenses. My martial arts training is the most expensive, and I also need to befriend those officers who practice archery every day, which consumes a lot of arrows. I can't let others pay for this. If I learn archery, I can better serve you in the future, right?”

As Li Jiancheng listened to his words, his lips twitched slightly, as if he had thought of something.

"Well, I see."

After finally seeing off Li Shimin and Li Yuanji, who were both demanding money, Li Jiancheng finally looked at Li Xuanba, who had been silent all along.

Li Xuanba seemed preoccupied, constantly pondering something.

Li Jiancheng naturally placed his hand on his younger brother's shoulder and led him along the road.

"What profound questions are you pondering now?"

"Brother, there's something I've been hiding from you all, something I haven't told anyone. I don't know if I should tell you."

Li Jiancheng gently patted his younger brother's head.

"That's it"

"Actually, everyone has some secrets they can't tell you. I also have things I haven't told you. Erlang, Silang, maybe it's the same for you. If you don't want to talk about it, just wait until the time is right. It's fine."

"I'm afraid you'll blame me and stop loving me."

"Haha, how could that be? From now on, you're part of my West Mansion... cough... anyway, my safety depends on you from now on! You need to train hard, sleep on time, and build up your strength so you can protect me!"

"Absolutely!! Anyone who dares to hurt Big Brother, I will beat them to death!"

Li Jiancheng was taken aback and blurted out, "What if your second brother wants to hurt me?"

Li Xuanba's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief. "How is this possible? Second brother loves eldest brother the most!"

"Haha, just kidding!"

"How could that be?"

P.S.: I'm so sorry, my child is too naughty and accidentally fell. He's been in the hospital for the past few days. His condition is very sensitive to bumps and falls. I need to go back and forth to the hospital, so I haven't been able to write as much. I won't stop updating in the future.

(End of this chapter)